Food security and food safety: concerns for Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, food is a basic right affirmed by the National Constitution of the country [article 15 (a)]. However, still a large number of people are food- insecure in this land of 160 million people. According to the World Food Summit in 1996, the food insecurity exists when a) there is not enough food available to meet the demand; b) people lack access to available food at affordable prices; c) and when available food fails to meet safe and nutritional demand of the given population.

In Bangladesh, high population growth, frequency of natural disasters and low productivity are traditionally considered as causes of food insecurity. However, data shows that these problems are no longer prominent in the debate of food security; because the fertility rate has declined from 7.0 to 2.3 during the period from 1974 to 2013. Along with the resilience to floods and cyclones; the innovative farming (e.g. saline-tolerant seeds and floating gardening etc.) and green revolution since 1980s have accelerated the overall food production (especially rice).  In 1972, food production was 10 million tonnes for 70 million people (a shortage of 3 million tonnes), while today it's around 35 million tonnes for 160 million people (a surplus of 11 million tonnes). In contrast, today Bangladesh has the third highest number of hungry population after China and India. According to World Food Programme (WFP) report (2012), 65.3 million people were food-insecure in Bangladesh (45 per cent of the total population). This gap between production and distribution requires deeper understanding of the causes of food insecurity with specific focus on institutional weaknesses (both political and economic institutions).

Weak political intuitions (ie non-functioning and turbulent democracy) generate weak economic institutions that put majority of the population vulnerable to poverty and hunger. There were 46 days of hartals per year on an average between 1991 and 2013. According to a UNDP report, Bangladesh loses 4.5 per cent of GDP per year as a result of such hartals. Hartals and blockades increase transport costs of agricultural input and output. It not only increases the price of the food, but also reduces the gain of the farmers. According to a recent survey of WFP (2013), the hartals resulted in 10-25per cent income fall for the low-income groups and farmers received 9-50per cent less price than normal days (specially those who produce perishable foods like fish and fruits).

In Bangladesh, where 80per cent of the people are engaged in the informal sector, political turbulence hits like deadly bullets to majority of the people. Falling wage and loss in production lead to application of evil means by people engaged in production chain (e.g. use of unregistered pesticides and food syndication etc.). Out of 10,000 samples tested by Institution of Public Health, 60per cent are found adulterated with poisonous chemicals. Absence of strong economic institutions and legal mechanism (e.g. effective food distribution, crop insurance, cold chain and proper monitoring) threatens not only nutritional safety of the population (at present 36per cent people suffer from stunting), but also accessibility to food because of price hike in a country that has 11 million tonnes of surplus foods.

In developing countries where institutional mechanisms are weak, food security is threatened from both local and international frontiers. In Bangladesh when farmers don't get sufficient price of their produce, they often export it to neighbouring countries through black market. The existence of parallel weak institutions of neighbouring countries hampers food security and safety of our country. For instance, most of the illegal chemical pesticides found in Bangladesh are imported from our neighbour, India. Moreover, a country with lower check and balance is a dreamland for MNCs (multi-national companies) to dump products that might not get access, if legal institutions were strong. For instance, the genetically modified Bt Brinjal (introduced by Monsanto-Mahyco Corporation) is recognised as 'poisonous brinjal' by physicians because of its negative environmental and health externalities, but the government of Bangladesh allowed it in 2013 (although it is not allowed in India and other countries).

Solution:

It is evident that national level food sufficiency does not ensure food security at the individual levels. Moreover, food security is not a result of a single factor, but an amalgam of multiple factors and it affects people differently with regard to their gender, race, geography and entitlements. Reforms at two points are essential to ensure sustainable food security, within and through institutions.

To begin with, within -- institution reform requires establishment of functioning democracy and accountability. It requires both goodwill of the political leaders and also pressure by the civilians. Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in many socio-economic indicators with the help of NGOs (it is often called NGO capital of the world) and this 'magic bullet' needs to be triggered at institutional reform this time to bring about an effective change in food management system. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in his study showed how India escaped famine after independence with functional democracy that was absent during pre-independence period when it experienced severe famine that killed 5 million people. Similarly in Bangladesh, civil society, as NGOs, media and other development actors can play an important role to ensure participation of mass population in the process of planning and execution in order to ensure accountability in governance system.

Secondly, reform through institutions requires it to be in the food chain. Nutritional aspect and food safety are threatened by excessive use of harmful pesticides and preservation chemicals at different levels of the food chain. It requires both positive and preventive checks. The positive check is possible through institutional settings that can support: firstly, massive awareness campaign and farmers' learning centres on the venomous consequence of chemicals on both supply and demand sides of food distribution; secondly, establishing a cold chain in order to secure freshness of the food. Countries like the USA, China, Brazil, Canada and Australia are much bigger than Bangladesh and still ensure safe food for the citizens without using toxic preservatives. In Dhaka city most of the problem of formalin can be solved with use of only Tk 150 million (15 crore) (19 million USD) by establishing 100 cold storages in 50 markets. This small step can be then replicated to other big cities and from big cities to small cities; and finally, alteration of the nature of farming (e.g. crop rotation and use of organic fertilisers etc) that will not only improve soil quality, but also ensure safety of the food. Preventive check requires proper monitoring and implementation of the law (i.e. Food Safety Act 2013). Government can also introduce licensing at food production and distribution levels in order to check use of food chemicals by greedy farmers and salesmen. Moreover, local governments need to be more vigilant and should be supported with sufficient laboratory options to test food quality.

All these mechanisms implemented through effective institutions will not only improve the earning capacity, but also ensure nutritional diets that are needed to rescue people from nutritional poverty trap. Besides, efficient distribution and security programmes can also ensure food security at community and individual levels.

The writer is a Master's degree student  at the Department of Development Studies, University of Malaysia and Asia Fellow, Yayasan Khazanah Foundation. Email: [email protected]